QLFC Round 12: A Green Light in the Darkness
by corvusdraconis
Summary: Sometimes fate falls out of the sky. Literally.


**QLFC Round 12:** Cross-overs

 **Mandatory Prompt:** COMIC : Green Lantern

 **Side Promts:**

(dialogue) "Who the bloody hell is that?"

(word) lantern

 **Beta Love:** fluffpanda

-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-

 _"In brightest day, in blackest night,_

 _No evil shall escape my sight._

 _Let those who worship evil's might_

 _Beware my power-Green Lantern's light!"_

 _-Green Lantern Corp Oath_

 **A Green Light in the Darkness**

"Who the bloody hell is that?" Ron blurted as Hermione rushed down the line of fallen trees, rock debris, foliage, and charred earth.

Hermione didn't answer. There was a man, or what seemed like a man, lying charred at the end of his descent to the unforgiving earth. The streak of glowing emerald had pierced the cloud cover over the Ottery St. Catchpole, casting an eerie hue to the sky of Devon, England.

Hermione, having been trained extensively with the Department of Magical Law Enforcement, usually ran towards danger instead of away, and there were those that knew her growing up that questioned if she overdosed on Gryffindor bravery upon graduation. She had started out thinking that learning the laws would help her figure out how to stand up for the treatment of the house-elves and other underappreciated magical beings, but something had changed in the years after the Second Wizarding War. Her focus had changed. Her demeanour had changed.

Kingsley Shacklebolt took her under wing, but not specifically for the matters of the Ministry of Magic. Instead, he trained her as an Auror as well as teaching her the intricacies of the Ministry. She had become very skilled— so much so that she was inducted as a Hit Witch. She, and a handful of others, were tasked with the apprehension and arresting of the most dangerous criminals the Wizarding World had ever known.

Harry had found it humorous that between he, Ron, and Hermione, Hermione was the one to score herself a reserved bed at St Mungo's Hospital for Magical Maladies and Injuries. He found it equally amusing that they provided her with a personal broomstick that was the envy of all but the best Quidditch players. Harry coveted her broomstick. Ron coveted her prestige, and the common Wizarding folk talked about her like she was the Harbinger of Death. Behave, parents would tell their children before bedtime, or Hermione Granger will find out about what you really did.

Hermione had taken lessons from Viktor Krum on how to handle a broom like a professional, and the bond between the two had become extremely strong. Hermione's fear of flying was banished with adrenaline-laced exhilaration, and it was common for her, Viktor, and Harry to race each other across the skies on random weekends.

While Hermione had remained strong in her friendships with both Harry and the Weasley family, her relationship with Ron had come to an anticlimactic end. They remained friends, as always, but it was clear that whatever it was either of them were searching for it wasn't to be found in each other. Ron ended up moving in with Lavender Brown, having visited her regularly every week after her mauling by Fenrir Greyback.

It had been a typical after-dinner night on the newly constructed porch at the Burrow that Hermione and Ron had been in the perfect place to see the green flashes in the sky over Devon. At first Ron seemed to think that someone was having a sky battle and throwing hexes at each other, but Hermione had stared at the flashes.

"It's not the right colour of green for curses and hexes, Ron," she said with some concern in her voice.

"Blimey, you're right," Ron said as they both stood up and squinted at the sky. Ron had a tendency to assume when faced with new situations, but he had trained and succeeded in becoming a good Auror despite of a few shortcomings. He and Harry had become well known in their trade, and managed to retain a positive reputation. Hermione, on the other hand, thanks to Rita Skeeter, was the "assassin in the night" as well as a slew of other unflattering things.

Public opinion, however, was hardly any concern of Hermione's when it came to saving lives, and the sight of the charred body lying at the end of the swath of disturbed ground only triggered her greater need to assist. Victims hardly cared that their savior was a Hit Witch with more arrests and take downs than most squads of Aurors had between their combined members. It was in their training to run straight ahead to where the daring feared to tread, and Harry had accused his friend of being mentally conditioned to be sociopaths at the flip of a mental switch.

Hermione had scoffed at him, but she had not denied that when she was "on the job" that her emotions were few and far between. Unlike her younger self, who was prone to cry when her feelings were hurt, the new Hermione Granger could watch Old Yeller on the Muggle telly, read One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel García Márquez, and volunteer at the baby hippogriff rehabilitation centre and remain dry-eyed.

All rumours and talk aside, Hermione did not hesitate to examine the smoldering body with both her eyes and spells, automatically directing Ron to assist her in providing assistance. It wasn't until the "man's" eyes opened, and Ron and Hermione stared into very alien and completely blue eyes that the both of them realised they were not assisting a human.

The alien, whose skin had been too charred to make heads or tails of, had tatters of ripped clothing that resembled a uniform. His face, which was equally torn and abused, barely concealed a very inhuman muzzle and elongated canines resembling tusks. His face and the rest of his body was slowly oozing dark blue blood. The alien made a rumbling and clicking sound, and a soft green glow filled his blue eyes.

"Tell Hal," his voice resonated in the air, but his lips did not move. "Tell Hal and the Lanterns that I destroyed the yellow battery's keeper. Tell him… that he was right about Sinestro. There is no redeeming him. He is our brother no longer. I should have listened. I should have believed."

"Ron, send a Patronus to St Mungo's," Hermione said quickly. "He needs help."

"He's a bloody alien, 'Mione," Ron blurted. "I don't think anyone would know how to help him!"

"Ronald!" Hermione hissed.

"No," the alien said lowly, his voice seeming to come from around him rather than his mouth. "My life is forfeit. I learned too late that my brother, our brother, is lost. I trusted him. I paid for it." The alien grasped her shoulder, he extended his charred fingers and a glowing green ring moved off his elongated, alien finger. It hovered in the air in front of her. "The ring. It calls to you, Hermione."

The alien stared at her as Hermione flinched.

"How did you?" she began.

The alien coughed, grimacing with a show of his sharp teeth.

"I am Thadan Sukan," the alien said. "The Oath is a living thing. It's words are not always the same, but the heart of them is always the same. Say the words, sister. Take my place. Help protect this sector from Sinestro."

The alien grunted, pulling a small, oddly diminutive looking lantern from under his crumpled body. "Touch the ring to battery when its light requires it. Say the Oath. Protect the innocent. Learn from my mistakes."

Thadan coughed, grimacing. He clasped the ring between his fingers and guided it to Hermione's empty ring finger. "In brightest day."

"In brightest day," Hermione repeated, a strange green glow filling her eyes.

"In blackest night."

"In blackest night," Hermione repeated.

"No evil shall escape my sight."

"No evil shall escape my sight," Hermione said, her voice seeming to waver and grow stronger.

"Let those who worship evil's might—" Thadan coughed.

"Let those who worship evil's might," Hermione repeated.

"Beware my power," Thadan said.

"Beware my power," Hermione recited.

"Green Lantern's light!"

"Green Lantern's light!" Hermione said, her voice strangely clarion in the still air. Green flashed on the ring, and Thadan pressed her ring and hand to the lantern in his other hand. A radiant green glow flowed up her arm and surrounded her body in a blinding radiance.

"Hermione Granger of Earth. You have the ability to face and overcome great fear. Welcome to the Green Lantern Corps," a strangely familiar voice intoned.

"Good luck, my sister," Thadan said with a flash of his tusks. "Tell Kilowog that he still favours his left side in a rush." The alien's green, glowing eyes flashed and went blue, and then the life in them leaked away his body felt limp to the ground.

Hermione stood up straight, tucking the lantern into the pocket of her robes. Her normal black Hit Witch robes had changed somewhat, becoming more sleek and form fitting as Ronald watched. Green glow flowed up and down her body, changing her appearance, clipping her robes to be less restricting. A strange mask formed across her face, concealing her appearance with a strange effectiveness. Hermione's normally brown eyes transformed into a radiant, glowing green.

Hermione clenched her fist and pointed her fist towards the ground. A bright green beam shot out and made the ground under Thadan cave. The ground swallowed him up, but Hermione pulled a large boulder over the ground where he had been. The green beam flashed as the stone was carved into a grave marker.

 _Thadan Sukan_

 _As brave as he was fearless_

 _(etching of a green lantern emblem)_

"Hermione?" Ron blurted, staring at her with wide eyes. " What's going on?"

Hermione looked at Ron, her hair fluttering around her head as though propelled by invisible wind. "I'm going to be away for a while, Ron. Please tell Harry not to worry."

"But, 'Mione?" Ron asked. "Where are you going? W...why do you look different? Who the bloody hell is that?" he finished, his eyes practically bugging out of his head as a man dressed in a green and black uniform with a green symbol emblazoned on his chest landed beside Hermione.

Hermione's eyes flashed a brighter green for a moment. "Green Lantern Hal Jordan. Current protector of Sector 2814. I am sorry. Thadan Sukan is dead."

The green-clad man's face flinched under his mask, but he nodded. "I see the ring has wasted no time filling your head with its encyclopaedia of endless knowledge. You seemed to handle it better than I did."

Hermione's lips curved upward.

Hal stared at the grave marker and sighed. "I will take you to meet the others."

"Hey!" Ron yelled, trying to get their attention. "What's going on?"

Hermione's lips quirked, and she turned around and smiled at him, disarmingly. "I'm going back to school, Ron," she said cheerfully, a shade of her own self peeking through what had become her normal mask of impassiveness.

Her eyes flashed.

"Tell Kingsley I'll meet with him the moment I get back," she said with a strange amusement cast over her face. "He's been bugging me for years to take some vacation time."

"Back?" Ron asked. "Back from where? Where are you going? What am I going to tell Harry?"

The man Hermione had addressed as Hal smiled. "Tell him the truth," he said with a mischievous grin much like the one Fred and George had worn on numerous occasions.

Ron looked at him with disbelief. "What truth?"

Hal extended his arm to Hermione and allowed her to loop her arm around his. "Tell him she was called to duty by the Green Lantern Corps. Tell him she's off exploring alien worlds with a man she's never met until now. Ready?"

Hermione nodded.

A green glow formed around them, and the pair shot off into the air at high speed, disappearing into the atmosphere.

Ron simply stared at the spot, his jaw partially dropped.

He remained there until Harry came out looking for him a few hours later.

The only coherent words they could get out his babbling were few and far between. "The lantern. It was green. There was a ring. She flew away."

Harry looked with confusion to the corner where Hermione kept her broom when she was visiting the Burrow. Ron was obviously mistaken. People didn't just fly off without a broom or something like a thestral. As far as he knew, Hermione had never learned how to fly like Tom Riddle. Whatever had happened had obviously destroyed part of Ron's mind. Hermione had obviously Apparated somewhere in a hurry, probably called by Kingsley to join him at the office.

"Come on, Ron," Harry said, giving him a friendly pat. "Let's get you home to Lavender."

"Brightest day," Ron muttered. "Blackest night."

Harry shook his head. Maybe when Hermione got back from whatever mission Kingsley sent her on, they'd all have a good laugh over it. He'd probably get an owl from her in a few days apologising and explaining where she was. He wasn't worried.

-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-

 _Dear Harry,_

 _I'm sorry for not saying this in person, but I am off traveling with my new mentor. We're exploring some really fascinating places, and I'm learning new tactics in hand-to-hand and energy combat that you wouldn't believe me if I told you._

 _I visited a place with a library the size of Hogwarts. It was glorious. You wouldn't believe the history I'm learning. It's all so exciting. I'm not sure when I'll be back, so please tell mother and father I am well. If you could also make sure Crookshanks is fed, I'm sure he'll love you for it._

 _I'll see you when I get back!_

 _All my love,_

 _Hermione_

 _(seal of green lantern pressed into emerald wax)_

-o-o-o-o-o-o-

Harry smiled as he folded up the parchment and tucked it into his robes. Mystery solved. Hermione was exploring foreign libraries. Kingsley probably forced her to take a nice vacation for once. It was about time. Hermione obviously needed the time off. She was starting to use green wax like a Slytherin.


End file.
